. . . it has driven the country with the largest energy reserves in the world into energy poverty.

"The Venezuelan government, facing a deepening economic crisis, rampant hyperinflation, widespread shortages, and an escalating political crisis, has decided to give everyone in the country Fridays off. As Bloomberg reports:

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has designated every Friday in the months of April and May as a non-working holiday, a bid to save electricity as a prolonged drought pushes water levels to a critical threshold at hydro-generation plants.

The country will unveil details of a 60-day plan to conserve energy Thursday, Maduro said, adding that measures would include asking large users such as shopping malls and hotels to generate their own electricity for nine hours a day. Heavy industries operating in the country will be asked to cut consumption by 20 percent, he said."

"Proven reserves" is a bit of a canard. "Because proven reserves include oil recoverable under current economic conditions, nations may see large increases in proven reserves when known, but previously uneconomic deposits become economic to develop." Proven reserves also require the political freedom to develop, and drill for the oil, so America always ranks low because so much of our oil reserves remain under federal lands off limits to oil production, or in the offshore continental shelf , or Alaska which are also off limits to production.

Back to the many wonders of Socialism, of which the primary seem to be the democidal murder of tens of millions of people. Perhaps its time for a Dead Pool on when and how many Venezuelans will need to die to propel the "revolution" forward for another year? It looks like the economy is about dead. How much longer before even the poor rise up in revolt?

Well at least they will have a three day weekends now to scour the land for toilet paper, cooking oil, and flour. The ability of the Socialist economy to provide for the people is unmatched.